Nice
Singles - Second Round: (1) J Isner def. X Malisse
7-6(7-3) 7-6(7-5)
John Isner needs a title here to do him any good, but at
least he's getting in his clay practice....

Singles - Second Round: (2) G Simon def. (Q) G Dimitrov
6-3 6-3
Nothing that matters yet for Simon, naturally -- but if
he can hold seed and make the final, he just might hit
the Top Ten.

Singles - Second Round: (3) N Almagro def. E Roger-Vasselin
7-6(7-5) 6-4
You know the story by now: Not enough points to count
for Nicolas Almagro. He needs a final to add points, a
title to rise in the rankings.

Singles - Second Round: (Q) B Baker def. (4) G Monfils
(WC) 6-3 7-6(7-9)
What an event for Brian Baker! Just winning one match
was amazing for him, and now he has two wins here. That
will increase his point total by about 20%. But Gael
Monfils finds his #13 ranking in some danger.

Singles - Second Round: M Kukushkin def. (5) B Tomic 3-6
6-2 7-5
This means that all the seeds from #4 on down are out of
the draw here -- plus it means that Bernard Tomic won't
rise above #28.

Singles - Second Round: N Davydenko def. (7) D Istomin
6-4 1-6 6-3
Nikolay Davydenko has been slumping. Denis Istomin
really doesn't like clay. No surprise that it was close
to a draw.... The loss leaves Istomin still below #40,
but moves Nikolay Davydenko close to a return to the Top
Fifty.

Singles - Second Round: S Darcis def. F Volandri 3-6 6-2
6-4
Steve Darcis came here ranked #61 despite having very
few memorable results in the last year. It looks as if
he'll be going a little higher.

Singles - Second Round: (Q) T Bellucci def. (WC) J
Ferrero 6-4 6-3
Juan Carlos Ferrero had a very long, late match the
night before. He was surely out of gas.... He remains
below the Top Forty.

Doubles - First Round: (WC) Isner/Querrey def. (2)
Bopanna/Marrero 6-3 6-3
No, we haven't heard what happened to Mahesh Bhupathi.
Bhupathi/Bopanna haven't had great results, but they
aren't going to break up this close to the Olympics!

Dusseldorf
Day four, and still no Ivo Karlovic for Croatia. That
meant that, once again, Lovro Zovko had to play singles.
And that meant, once again, a loss -- although Zovko was
a little more competitive this time. Philipp
Kohlschreiber beat him 6-2 7-6(7-2). And that clinched
the tie for Germany, since that was their second win.
But they won the doubles anyway, with Kas and Petzschner
beating Dodig and Zovko in a match tiebreak. Bet the
Croats will be glad to get out of there....

At least we'd heard of Zovko. Serbia -- which, to be
sure, had already won its tie against Russia -- dug so
deep that they teamed Nenad Zimonjic with Miki Jankovic,
#887 in singles. Surprise, surprise, they lost 7-5 7-6
to Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Kunitsyn.

Japan won the first match of their first tie. But
they've done nothing since, and it's now over for them.
Carlos Berlocq beat Go Soeda 6-3 6-4, after which
Argentines Brzezicki and Jhela beat Ito and Sato in a
match tiebreak.

The Czechs, meanwhile, were finishing up their
demolition of the Americans as Cermak/Stepanek beat
Roddick/Harrison in a match tiebreak. So the Red Group
will feature the Czechs versus the Argentines in what
amounts to a semifinal, while the Germans will face the
Serbs. Japan and the Americans will face off for third
place in their group, while the Croats will face Russia.